I decided to explore a new stretch of a stream I rarely fish today and was greatly rewarded. It is one of the less popular streams in the area so I’m choosing not to name it here.
I hit the stream at 11:30 and was greeted with clear skies and crystal clear water. The first couple runs were unsuccessful as I focused on the deeper pools where I could see fish congregating. These fish were uninterested in my flies, so I started focusing on the shallower riffles. Soon I was catching fish after fish, with one of the first being this 15-inch beauty.
I fished almost the entire day using a Euro pheasant tail nymph with a zebra midge, with probably 75% of the fish coming on the pheasant tail. This particular pheasant tail is going in the On The Rise Hall of Fame, as it caught around 30 fish before I finally put it out of its misery and tied on a fresh one.
I lost track counting fish at around 25, and I wasn’t even half way done at that time. I probably caught 50+ fish — easily my best ever — with 20-25 of them over 12″. I went through a funk for a few runs where I was losing a bunch of good fish. If not for that I probably would have 10-12 more.
After six hours of fishing and over a mile of stream covered, I was happy to see the car. Definitely a day I won’t forget anytime soon!
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